Safety ski binding



April 13, 1954 R. l. BLANCHARD SAFETY SKI BINDING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 26, 1951 17229622 i023 fiqyaZ J. .Bldk' chard,

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April 13, 1954 R. l. BLANCHARD SAFETY SKI BINDING Filed Jan. 26, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A eg/jays,

Patented Apr. 13, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAFETY SKI BINDING Application January 26, 1951', SerialNo. 207,988

3. Claims. (01. 280-.11.35)

This invention relates to improvements in ski bindings, and particularly to. a safety ski binding.

The object of this invention is. to provide a. ski binding which will secure the skis firmly to the skiers boots, permit the necessary freedom of movement required for control of the. skis in normal. running and turning, yet. which will readily releasev the skier.s boots in. the event of a spill, and. thus prevent a. possible badsprai-n of the skiers ankle or knee, a fracture of the leg, or other injury. Safety ski bindings heretofore made and used have for one resason or another not proved entirely satisfactory in operation and in achieving the foregoing. purposes. Previous safety ski bindingswith which 1am. familiar have included toe side plates, with or without a connecting toe strap, and. which are spreadable or otherwise. operable to permit quick release of the boot.

M-y device eliminates the side toe. plates, and the connecting toe strap entirely, yet the. ski boot is secured firmly to the ski during all normal running and turning. At the same time in the. event of excessive strain as caused by a spill, the boot can be instantly released from the binding. This excessive strain or force which will release the foot from the binding can be applied either upwardly, horizontally, or in a vertical twisting motion. with which I am familiar will permit release of the. foot under all these three types of strain. At the time my device can be used with any of the standard types of cable bindings and spring assemblies commonly and currently in use, and-regardless of the position of the springs inthe complete assembly (i. e. either forward of the toe, around the heel, or elsewhere). My device is further adjustable when used. with any of the standard types of cable bindings to vary the force applied through the binding necessary to effect release of the foot from the ski binding in accordance with the desires and requirements of the individual skier, and will further automatically accommodate. itself to ski boot soles of. varying thickness, without adversely affecting the performance of the. ski. binding.

Briefly my invention to be used in connection with a standard spring cable binding comprises a base plate adapted to be securedv to the ski, a

toe plate transversely hinged to the base plate and having a horizontal flange or lip forming a clamping jaw extending over the sole of the boot at the toe thereoi, to hold down. and clamp the boot tc'the ski. The upright rear edge of the Noother safety ski binding toe plate below the. flange engages, the edge oi the sole and acts as an abutment or stop against forward movement of the. boot. A narrow rigid stop is. provided on the base plate at the transverse. center thereof and extends vertically into a recess formed in the lower law or rear edge of the plate and flush therewith, which. acts as a? fixed stop against forward movement of. the boot. Hooks, opening upwardly, are. provided on the sides of the toe plate, to receive. the spring cable. of. the cable binding, which provides the force or. power to pull the toe. plate downwardly against the boot, and thus hold. the boot securely against the ski. Excessive force, as would normally exist whenever the. skiers. velocity is. suincient to cause a. spill, overcomes the. force or the spring cable holding down thetoe plate against the. boot, and. whenever applied to. the toe plate horizontally, upwardly, or with a verticaltwisting motion, this force will immediately release the boot from. the the plate, andhenceirom the ski.

Before explaining in detail thepresent. invention. it is to. be understood that the invention is not limited in its. application to. the. details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable 015 other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out. invarious ways. Also it is to be understood that thephraseology or terminology employed herein. is for the. purpose of description and. not. of. limitation.. and it is not intended to limit the. invention claimed herein beyond the requirements of the. prior art.

In the drawings:

Further advantages, objects. and features of the invention will be better understood. from the following, description and} the. accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a, plan View of. my device;

Fig; 2 is a front elevation. thereof,

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation thereof;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 5 is. a plan view or my device. as. attached to a ski;

Fig. 6. is. a vertical section. of my device as at tached to a ski, on line. 67-8 of Fig. fi with a ski boot shown in the. side. elevation;

Fig. "l is a verticalsecti'on online Is- Fig. 6, and

Fig. 8 is a. vertical section. similar to- Fig. 7, but showing the toe plate: insboot releasing. position.

In; the. drawings lllrepresents. at basea plate 0t metal. or other suitable material adapted to:

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extending stop I5 is provided on the base plate it at the transverse mid-portion thereof. A toe plate 2%! preferably of a non-ferrous metal is pivotally mounted on base plate I and on pin I3 thereof by means of integral downwardly extending collars 21 provided on the front end of toe plate 26 and which extend between the spaced collar portions lZa and I2!) and again are suitably apertured toreceive the pin [3 (Fig, ,2). Toe plate 2!), thus hingedly mounted on base plate ill extends rearwardly, approximately one and one-half inch and has a rear edge 22 constituting a clamping jaw which is shaped transversely to conform to the shape of the sole BI of the ski boot B, and thus may be arcuately shaped as shown in Figs. l and 5, or straight, as the case may be. Rear. edge or clamping jaw 22 includes a horizontally and rearwardly extending flange or lip 22a at the top surface thereof, which extends over the sole Bl of the boot at the toe thereof (Figs. 5 and 6), to let down and clamp the boot to the ski. The upright rear edge 22b ofthe toe plate 20 beneath the flange 22a engages the edge of the sole BI and acts as an abutment or stop against forward movement of the boot. As previouslydescribed the rear edge 22?) of the toe plate 2i! is provided with a recess 20 (Figs. 1, '7. and 8) at the mid-portion thereof to receive the, upstanding abutment or stop on the base plate It, and which is flush with the upright rear edge 22b of the toe plate 22. Hooks or hitches 25, opening upwardly are provided on the sides of the toe plate to receive the spring cable 28 (Figs. 5, 6, '7 and 8) of a standard type cable 28 (shown partially) which is mounted on v the top of the ski, and held down on the sides by downwardly opening separate hooks or hitches 39 (Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8) of which several pairs may be provided on the sides of the ski from toe toward the heel, and extends around the heel of the (boot, in a suitable groove provided on the outer upright surface of the heel (not shown), and is made releasable and adjustable by a toggle joint fixture (not shown) mounted on the ski in front of the boot. As the standard type of cable binding is old and well known it need not be described or pictured in detail in the drawings. a i

In operation and use the skier inserts his ski boot 3 over the base plate In, with the toe of the soleunder the extending flange 22a of the toe plate 20 and against the upright surface 22b thereof. The cable binding is then placed around the heel of'the boot and under the series of downwardly opening hooksSll mounted on the sides of the ski underthe boot- The cable 28 is then passed upwardly over the upwardly opening hooks on the sides of the toe plate 20, and when the cable binding is tightened by the'toggle joint on the front of the ski' (not shown) the spring cable 28 pulls the hinged toe plate 20 downwardly against the boot B, securely holding the boot against the ski. Excessive force or strain, which occurs whenever the skiers velocity is sufficient to cause a spill, overcomes the force of the spring cable pulling the toe plate 29 down against the boot and enables the skier. immediately to releasehis boot from under the toe plate and hence from the ski. If the skier falls backward the toe plate 20 pivots about its hinge pin 13 and lifts, thus releasing the ski boot. If the skier falls forwardly his ski is pulled out from under the clamping jaw of the toe plate, and if the skier lfalls sidewise in a vertical twisting motion as shown in Fig. 3, the toe plate 28 is lifted vertically from the sides, again to release the ski boot. At the same time the fixed stop I5 on the base plate 10 prevents forward movement of the ski boot against the rear edge 22b of the toe plate 26, to prevent lifting of the toe plate 20 and release of the ski boot under normal controlled skiing.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a safety ski binding which will secure the skis firmly to the skiers boots during normal controlled skiing, yet which will instantly release the skiers boots in the event of a spill and thus prevent possible serious injury, sprains and fractures to the skiers legs. My device, designed to be used with any of the standard spring cable bindings, thus is readily adaptable for use with the skiers existing equipment and does not require an expensive replacement. The standard cable binding and spring assembly is thus utilined in my device to perform two functions (1) in holding the ski boot, to provide a downwardly operating force to pull the clamping jaw downwardly onto the toe of the boot sole, to hold the boot down on the ski, and (2) to provide a horizontaloperating force to pull the ski boot forwardly against the rigid stop on the base plate l0.

I claim:

1. A safety binding for a ski for use in conjunction with a cable type binding comprising in combination a base plate adapted to be secured to the ski, a unitary toe plate positioned in front of the boot and, hingedly mounted adjacent its forward end on said base plate and carrying a clamping jaw at its rear edge extending transversely across said toe plate for clamping a boot to the ski, said clamping jaw including a horizontal flange extending over the front portion of the sole of the boot and an upright abutting surface beneath said flange for engaging the front side of the sole of said boot, a rigid upright stop mounted on said base plate in alignment with the upright abutting surface of said toe plate and hooks on said toe plate for receiving the cable of the cable binding whereby the clamping jaw is held downwardly in clamping position against the boot.

2. A safety binding for a ski for use in conjunction with a cable type binding comprising in combination a base plate adapted to be secured to the ski, a unitary toe. plate positioned in front of the boot and hingedly mounted adjacent its forward end on said base plate and carrying a clamping jaw at its rear edge extending transversely across said toe plate for clamping a boot to the ski, said clamping jaw including a horizontal flange extending over the front portion of the sole of the boot and an upright abutting surface beneath said flange for engaging the front side of the sole of said boot, a rigid upright stop mounted on said base plate in alignment with the upright abutting surface of said toe plate, and hooks on said toe plate rearward of said hinge to receive the cable of the cable binding whereby the clamping jaw is held in clamping position against the boot.

3. A safety binding for a ski for use in conjunction with a cable type binding comprising in combination a base plate adapted to be secured to the ski, a toe plate transversely hinged adjacent its forward end to said base plate and carrying a clamping jaw at its rear edge for clamping a boot to the ski, said clamping jaw including a horizontal flange extending over the front portion of the sole of the boot and an upright abutting surface beneath said flange for engaging the front side of the sole of the boot, a rigid upright stop mounted on said base plate, in alignment with the upright abutting surface of the clamping jaw, a central recess provided in said upright abutting surface of said clamping jaw for receiving said rigid stop, and hooks on the sides of said toe plate rearwardly of said hinge to receive the cable of the cable binding whereby the clamping jaw is held in clamping position against the boot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,199,153 Else Apr. 30, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 38,014 Norway Oct. 1, 1923 65,020 Norway July 6, 1942 105,234 Sweden Aug. 11, 19 2 116,153 Sweden Apr. 2, 194 250,090 Switzerland May 18, 1948 344,329 Great Britain Mar. 5, 1931 

